Flouncing Around

I am finally getting close to having the Princess Slip # 0336 for the VPLL 1912 Sewing Project complete.  The flounce has been a major contributor to increasing the amount of time spent on this project.  Having completed my homemade pleating board I proceeded to pleat the flounce.  In the pictures below you can see that my board was wide enough to fit the width of the flounce.  Starting at one edge of the board I careful tucked the flounce into the pleats and then pressed them down.  To aid in making sure the fabric was all the way into the pleat I used my metal ruler to slide in between and then pressed and moved the ruler down the pleat and then moved on to the next pleat.  Once that area had been pleated the fabric was removed, pinned and pressed again on the ironing board.  All pleating was allowed to cool completely before moving onto the next section of flounce.

  

Here is the 17” wide flounce with all the pleats pressed in.   I re-stitched the flounce at the top so that the pleats would not open up while the flounce was being attached to the slip.

 

Being as I really didn’t follow the directions I also veered away from that again when it came to attaching the flounce at the base of the slip.  Having previously serged all raw edges on my slip pieces the lower edge of the slip was already finished and ready for stitching on the insertion.  The 3/4” insertion was laid out on the right side of  my slip and stitched down.  The raw-finished hem was turned under and stitched as if you were following the regular insertion directions. 

Next, I used Myrna and my metal rulers to get the measurements I needed to transfer over to the flounce.  In the second picture below you can see where I ran a pinned line  to mark off where I’d need to stitch the flounce on.  I did not immediately match this up to the slip base instead I ran a line of straight stitching along the marked out pin line and then went back and serged the excess flounce fabric off.

     

The flounce was pinned onto the base of the slip again.

 

Below is another picture showing that I further fine tuned the flounce down some more using the same process with Myrna and the rulers as before.  The measurements were once again transferred to the flounce and a line of straight stitching with serging the excess fabric off took place.

 

This was one of the more tedious processes with this pattern.  Extreme patience and time is required when dealing with the flounce.  The efforts are well worth all the fussiness with getting the fit for the length correct. 

Here is the final fitting on Myrna.  It was so beautiful out that I couldn’t resist placing a blanket on our deck table and taking Myrna outside for her final fitting.  I just needed to make 1/4” adjustments in how the flounce hung prior to stitching to the base of the slip.  Once the final adjustments were complete the right side of the flounce was pinned to the lower edge of the 3/4” insertion lace and stitched down from the right side.  The raw edge of the flounce was turned back on the wrong side of the fabric and stitched. Thus finishing the slip.  

For other individuals sewing this pattern I would recommend NOT cutting your flounce out until you have completed the upper portion of the slip and measured off how wide of a flounce you will need.  I found having the flounce cut out at 17” wide to be an extreme waste of fabric.  Of course with all that excess width you can adjust your slip for the desired length but that then creates the fussy adjustments that I had to make above.   That fussiness compounded by the pleating.  Because I wanted my slip 5-6” off the ground my final finished flounce, as attached to the slip, was 10” wide.  It would have been much easier to have the flounce cut at an 11-12” width then discarding all the wasted fabric I did in adjusting the 17” flounce.

Join Myrna and myself for the final reveal in the the next post.

Happy Sewing….

The Flounce From Hell and Other Unmentionable Adjectives…

Being a lady of  modern times I hold no qualms in calling this portion of the 1912 sewing project on the # 0336 princess slip, The Flounce From Hell.  I use this as a term of “endearment”…NOT…for this particular stage in the process of completing my slip.

As you may recall I mentioned in a previous post that there were TWO moments in this project in which I became completely frustrated and wanted to just run to a corner and cry my eyes out.  This is the second one!!!

Things were moving in the right direction.  I cut the flounce out according to the directions, stitched one seam together, pressed that open and top-stitched the seams down.   I finished off the remaining raw edges with the serger.  I installed the 1 1/2” insertion lace and embroidered on both sides of the lace.  The tear-away stabilizer was removed, which took a considerable amount of time.  Not wanting to accidentally ruin the lace insertion I developed a safe method for clipping open my insertion.  Because my lace was 1 1/2” wide I could fit my flat, 12”, metal ruler in between the layers and clip the seams open without any accidental miss-clips into the lace.  If you have a narrower lace as your insertion I would

suggest cutting a piece of poster board an 1/8” less and approximately 12” long to slide in between the layers to protect your lace while clipping open.

Here is where things turned horribly wrong.  I spent a good portion of one afternoon (4-5 hours) pleating my flounce.  I stopped at the half-way point and compared it to my lower slip measurement and was literally crushed to find that it wouldn’t cover the slip measurement.  No matter how one figured it out I could not get 1” knife pleats into the flounce and have it match the measurement at the lower slip.  Dejected I went back to the drawing board and analyzed my options. 

First up…pressing all those pleats out and hoping they wouldn’t show too badly once the flounce was pleated again.  One just has to sit there and shake their head at such a goof!!!  Second, I hopped online and checked pleating out and discovered that I would NEVER have enough flounce for 1” knife pleats given the cutting requirements the pattern gave you; for one pleat I would need three inches of fabric in order to pleat the flounce as I’d like.  My recommendation to future participants that want to sew this slip is to make the upper portion of the slip first and once complete, measure the lower edge where your flounce will be sewn.  Once you have that figure add 3” and then multiply that figure by 3.  This should give you enough flounce for 1” knife pleats to match your lower slip edge plus a little extra to close the seam.

In trying to dig myself out of this dilemma I had considered cutting another length of flounce to add on to give me the required measurement I’d needed for 1” knife pleats but sadly I did not have enough of my insertion lace.  I finally settled on taking 1/2” pleats with a distance of one inch between the folded edge of the pleats.  Not exactly the look I wanted but it would have to suffice.

Next…I was NOT going back to sitting and pinning the pleats on my ironing board again.  Over a two hour period I created 24” wide pleating board.  Below are some pictures of the process.

      A quickie explanation.  I purchased some heavy, fusible craft interfacing meant for bags.  I marked off the lines for my pleats in pencil and then fused the fabric to some muslin.  I then stitched along my penciled lines which will help you when you go to fold your pleats.  I folded the pleats, pressed firmly and then stitched on the outside edges to keep the pleats in place.  I cut a piece of poster board the measurement of my finished pleating board.  I sprayed adhesive to one side of the board and covered that with some muslin folding the raw edges over to the wrong side.  I then sprayed the wrong side of the board and very, carefully pressed my pleated piece onto the board and smoothed it out.  Viola….instant pleating board.  It wasn’t perfect but made it a lot easier to pleat the flounce.  Added bonus…the adjectives that were flying furiously earlier were now few and far between.

 

With this disaster in the making diverted and my sanity restored, I commenced to pleat my flounce.  The results will be shown in my next post.

Happy Sewing….

Front Meets Back and Other Pretty Things…

Having survived the drama associated with my center back placket (see the Tale of Two Backs), work continued with getting the Front and Back together on my princess slip # 0336 for the 1912 sewing project.  I was looking forward to this part in the process because the results were yielding a wearable garment.

The shoulder seams were stitched and the edges on the neckline were turned under and catch-stitched down.  I used a 5/8” wide eyelet trim with 1/8'” satin ribbon woven into it.  The trim was pinned in place and machined stitched down doing the edge furthest from the neckline first.  I then worked the corners of the front and back so that the eyelet would lay properly and not catch the ribbon when the neck edge was stitched down.  Some other participants mitered their corners but I found this wasn’t necessary by pinning out the excess fabric.

The pattern calls for placing 1 1/2” gathered lace at the neckline but I found that to be to “Fru-Fruie” for my taste and instead purchased a 1 1/2” wide satin ribbon that was folded and gathered with two rows of basting stitches.  I doubled the measurement of the neckline for the ribbon, marked the center, turned under the raw edges prior to running my basting stitches.  I matched the center of the ribbon to the center front and matched the edges to the finished placket edges and distributed the gathers evenly.  You really need to take your time during this process so you don’t accidentally break your basting.  It takes a while but is all worth the time expended in the looks of the final garment.  Here I hand stitched the ribbon to the neckline edge and then covered the raw edge with 1/4” satin ribbon which I also hand stitched down.  Below are photos of this process.

 

Here is the finished results at the neckline showing the gathered ribbon, eyelet trim and the added embroidery.

 

The finished back.  The final button was stitched on as well as hooks and eyes to keep the top closed. 
Just beautiful!!!

The side seams were then stitched and pressed open.  The raw edge of the armhole was finished with a 1/4” double-fold bias binding.  Here the armhole called for 1 1/2” gathered lace but I was not fond of that idea either.  I found a lovely 1 1/2'” flat, lace.  Even though the lace was not intended to have ribbon woven through it I wove the 1/8” satin ribbon through it and hand stitched it to the armhole.

 

Final armhole results.

 

Me oh my….I have a wearable garment and can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this project.

Up next….the flounce!

Happy Sewing…

A Tale of Two Backs… !#$%

While working on this project I had only TWO complete moments of frustration, this being the first.  My issue resulted from the creation of back facings and not totally paying attention to what I was doing!   As I was “merrily” moving along with my princess slip # 0336 for the 1912 sewing project I ran into a minor snag which almost made me want to run to a corner and cry.  Everything had gone so well on the front of the slip and I was progressing nicely on the back.  Following are the steps that were taken in the progression of the back along with some pictures:

Back Facings 

In viewing some of the completed princess slip projects on the VPLL website I concluded that I did not like how the back opening was handled and created back facings by going off the center back of the pattern and making a facing pattern.  I cut two facings and serged the upper and lower edges then serged/trimmed 1/4” off the raw edge of the hem.  This could be handled with a traditional hem treatment by turning under 1/4” and stitching the hem but I wanted less bulk.  The edge that would match up to the center back seam was left untreated being as it would be trimmed later.  With right sides together I stitched each facing to the center back pieces taking a 3/8” seam allowance along the back and neck edge.  The seam was pressed towards the facing and edge stitched from approximately 3” up from the base to as close as you can get at the top of the facing, trimmed along the center back and diagonally at the corner, turned and pressed.

As stated previously, I did not like how the back gapped and placed darts starting at the neckline to one inch below the waistline on each center back piece.  Here is where I further tweaked the dart on each side based upon my scoliosis.  More was taken in on my left side then my right due to excess fabric associated with the scoliosis.  The hem was then catch stitched down to approximately one inch above the placket point.  The piece was pressed again and a row of topstitching was run 1/8” from the edge on both center back pieces.  The button holes were marked on the left center back piece.  My finished facing piece is 1 1/2” wide so I located my buttons holes 3/4” in from the edge and evenly spaced out for 10 buttons and stitched.  I applied fray check to each button hole and left that to dry prior to cutting the holes open.  I was so thrilled with how nicely everything had come out. 

Fate Rears It’s Ugly Head

Now…here is where my “mistake” with the back opening was discovered and I was crushed knowing how much time had been committed to the back.  I went to sew the center back seam on the placket and realized I hadn’t adjusted my placket on the left side.  I had cut both pieces the same and was missing the fabric necessary to close the placket properly.  Oh…how dejected I was to know I had “screwed” up and this screw up would cause me to have to wash, dry, and press additional yardage in order to cut this piece over with the corrected pattern.  Yikes…all of that nice work gone to waste!!!!  Ten o’clock in the evening is not the time to discover these little mess ups.  My goodness…I was besides myself at having done this!!!  Well…sewing is always a learning experience and I was “schooled” with this little faux pas.

Well, needless to say I got over myself and remade the left center back piece.  Below are pictures of the remarked button holes.  The center picture I am finishing the back seam by serging the raw edge and the right is the finished seam with the tail which is then woven back in.

    

Here is the “second” left, center back piece all finished and the center back pieces side by side.  You can see at the lower placket how the left back piece was adjusted for a lapped placket.

 

Once complete I then stitched the center back pieces together.  The center back seams were matched up and stitched until the placket point.  The left, center back piece was lapped over the right, center back piece matching up the center points on the plackets.  I pinned the placket closed to the neckline to stabilize the area and stop the pieces from shifting.  It did require a little maneuvering, some fray check and clipping but the results turned out rather nicely and I definitely liked how the center back turned out; so much better than the original directions on the pattern.  I used vintage buttons from my Great-Grandma Nettie’s button tin. I stitched the buttons on using my machine but I left off the top button knowing I’d need room for the presser foot when stitching on the eyelet trim.   The right picture shows the lower placket with the reinforcement stitching to maintain the placket closure.

 

Here is the completed back with the side backs sewn on.  All is now right with the world!!!

Thus ends my “Tale of Two Backs”….

Slip Basics, Insertion & Embroidery

In the continuation of the construction of the Princess Slip pattern # 0336  for the VPLL 1912 sewing project work commenced on the front portion of the slip.  Prior to construction I performed the following tasks:

• Cut 1 CF, 2 SF, 2 SB, 2 CB and 2 CB Facings(self-made pattern)
• Stay-stitched the neckline of CF, SF, SB, CB and armholes
• Stay-stitched SF along points 26, 27 going beyond those points
• Stay-stitched SB along points 31, 32 going beyond those points
• Fray-checked into point 27 and point 32, let it dry and clipped to stay-stitching
• Serged all raw edges and wove the tails into the serged stitching
• Throughout the entire project one of the MOST important steps to perform is PRESSING.  So many sewists’ projects end in failure due to the lack of proper pressing.   My process involves stitching the seam, pressing while flat then pressing open or as in some cases pressing the seam to one side or the other.
• Starch, H2O spray bottle and a pressing cloth are necessary tools as well.

My fabric choice for this project was muslin.  It is 100% cotton and would have been utilized during the 1912 time period and was an economical choice.  I usually purchase my muslin from Jo-Ann’s when I have a 50% off coupon.  A great time to buy the whole bolt.  My fabric was pre-washed and shrunk in the dryer prior to cutting and then pressed thoroughly prior to lay-out.  As far as the directions for this project…I read them but then put my slip together in my own order.

First up…inserting lace into the center front piece.   I had purchased lace but was not satisfied with the look it created on the garment so went back to the drawing board and searched out new lace.  This project requires an extensive amount of insertion which can cause it to become an extremely “pricey” project.  Not an option for me.  Right before Easter I stumbled on a lovely 1 1/2” scalloped, poly/cotton blend lace at Wal-Mart and then ventured on over to Jo-Ann’s and discovered a nice 3/4” lace for the princess seams and a 5/8” eyelet for the neckline.  My original ribbon choice was rose but I could not find any locally so settled for a shade of pink.  I also added some extra difficulty to this project by adding machine embroidery in pink on each side of the insertion.

Here is my center front piece with the insertion lace along with the embroidered stitching to the left and right of the insertion.  In the construction process I first stitched down the insertion along the center front and then utilized some iron-on, tear-away stabilizer prior to stitching the embroidery.  Prior to trimming open the front insertion I fray-checked the top edge just to ensure the edge didn’t ravel easily.

Prior to sewing the princess seams I sewed the insertion and 3/4” lace onto the upper, side-front pieces.  The princess seams were sewn next.  This requires a little fin-angling at points 26 and 27 where the area was previously stay-stitched and fray-checked.  Below are some pics showing how this area is pinned and sewed.

 

 

 

I sewed only from the seam allowance point at the neckline through point 27 down to the base of the slip.  I did not sew through the neckline to the raw edge.  This allows both pieces to be turned easily at the seam line when it is turned under to finish.  I did the same process on the back pieces as well.  A recommendation for the front seam is to start at the neckline matching up seam line points and reinforcing prior to stitching further then stitch through your clipped point on to the point where the horizontal insertion lace is marked, back stitch then switch to a basting stitch for the remainder of the seam, press flat and then press seam open.  The 3/4” lace was inserted over the princess seam. 

I need to offer another piece of advice here…

If your insertion lace is less than 1” wide you need to carefully move the princess seam to one side on the wrong-side while the insertion lace is stitched down otherwise it will get caught.  Once done with stitching your princess seam insertion lace down you can now easily open that seam due to the basting stitching.  Press the seams and finish according to insertion lace directions.  I fray-checked at the top of the princess insertion prior to opening the seam as well.

The horizontal insertion lace was stitched down at the bust and opened as in previous steps and then a row of embroidery was added at the neckline.  Placement was placed based upon the width’s of my eyelet and 3/4” insertion lace. 

With the front complete, on the horizon, the back…I will leave that for my next post.

Enjoy your day and as always, Happy Sewing….

Adjusting the Princess Slip for Me, Myself & I

I was very excited to receive the Princess Slip pattern # 0336 from VPLL for the 1912 Sewing Project.  When it comes to me and patterns it is always standard practice to make adjustments and this pattern was no exception.  I do have some body issues that complicate matters but have learned to live with them and the necessary adjustments that have to be made.  Those issues being my height, I always have to lengthen patterns, my short waist issue (I have no body – I am all legs) and the pattern adjustments that accompany my scoliosis.  I don’t have a bad curve but it does present problems that require all patterns to be tweaked in order to fit me.

In creating my pattern I traced only the top half of the pattern to make those necessary adjustments marking off a horizontal line for my high-hip and hip locations based upon the natural waistline of the pattern.  I am of the school of thought….I never cut my original pattern!!!  God forbid….I prefer to trace and mess with the tracing.  It may take longer but I am always left with a pristine pattern that can be utilized again for myself or someone else in the future.

The major adjustments I made to this pattern were as follows':

• Waist – made larger
• Adjusted the side front and side back per previous posters suggestion.  I too found that it fell too far back and cut and pasted the side front/back pieces to realign the side seam up correctly.  This in turn required a slight adjustment on the front armcye.
• Additionally the princess seam was approximately 1” too far over towards the side seam.  I realigned that so that it fell over my bust point.
• I lowered the bust 3/4” to match up to my bust point.
• I lengthened/shortened the shoulder as well on both the front and back pieces due to finding the seam falling too far towards the back.  I aligned it to center correctly at the shoulder.
• Shortened the waist 1 1/2” to match my upper body length and re-lengthened the pattern at the hip area to match the original overall length of the slip.  I did not lengthen the slip being as you have 17” of flounce to deal with and can make the length adjustments with that.
• I truly did NOT like the directions for the back placket and created a facing for both center back pieces.  I made a slight adjustment to the pattern at the base of the placket (had a placket nightmare moment which will be discussed in a later post).
• Some minor tweaks included some back darts on the center back pieces due my scoliosis and not liking the excess fabric gapping there as well as taking it in at the shoulder seam starting at the neck edge and decreasing it to match the seam allowance at the armhole.  There just was way too much fabric for my liking.  I left the front alone but if I make this again I would further adjust the pattern to take out the fullness at the center front as well.  For now that fullness can be drawn up with the eyelet trim and ribbon.

It took me two muslins to get this pattern worked out to fit my body proportions.  I am satisfied with the results but being as this project has taken me two months to complete from start to finish my final product is slightly large on me being as I have lost some weight due to a lifestyle change that my husband and myself have made for his health that was started back in January.  Not a bad thing…I am happy to have the weight gone but must now save for a new Myrna being as the present one is slightly too big.

Muslin # 1

 

Muslin# 2

   

Up next commencement of the slip itself!  Happy Sewing….

Pattern Drafting the Princess Slip and 1910’s Corset

Just a quick post today.  This past weekends hard work in pattern drafting yielded me a pattern for both my Princess Slip for the 1912 Sewing Project along with a corset pattern for a 1910’s corset based on a pattern which can be downloaded from Festive Attyre’s website. 

As to what alterations I made to the patterns, I will give more detail in a later post.  Up next will be the cutting and sewing of my mock-ups.  It is my goal to get this done during the week so that I may begin to cut and sew the actual projects over the weekend.

Happy Sewing….